The Golden Boy
by Girl who likes to read a lot
Summary: Katniss has a tough life, working all day and has no fun in her life. But that changes when Peeta Mellark makes an appearance in her life. Modern Everlark AU/ OOC Rated T though it might become M.
1. Help Wanted!

**AN: My first THG fanfic! I have been reading fanfics for over a year and a half now and this fandom has my heart forever so I figured why not write a story?! I hope you, my readers, will enjoy this story and though my chapters won't be very long (I still haven't figured out how to make long chapters that do not become boring) I hope that there will be many chapters and that it will be story that I can be proud of. **

**FIY: English is not my first language, Dutch is. So if I made any grammar mistakes, I am so sorry. I do not have a beta do bear with me. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own THG, if I did then I would be living the dream. The plot however is mine. **

**The Golden Boy **

**Chapter One: Help wanted! **

I stare at the picture on the wall. A little girl with a long braid made of raven-coloured hair. She is wearing a little red dress and she looks happy, ecstatic even. I know it's me but I don't recognize myself at all. It's been a long time since I have smiled a genuine smile. Today is not different, I smile, but only because Martha wants me to. I know I should call her mother or mom because she's the only mother figure that I've known but I don't like to call her that so I only do it when we're in public, but it doesn't feel right when I say it.

Martha told me that I was three days old when she found me on her doorstep and that she, being the good person that she is, brought me into her house and raised me as her own. She doesn't know where I came from and she never found out even though she says that she did everything in her power to figure it out. The only thing that she knows is that I was called Katniss, it's the name my parents gave me and she decided that I could keep it when she signed me in.

I guess life has been gentle to me. I could have gotten into a orphanage and I would have been stuck there for the rest of my life because I am not a very likeable person. And Martha has been kind to me, she does not let me go hungry and buys me everything I want in exchange for something; I have to do all the chores in the house. And when I say all I mean all; cooking, cleaning, washing, feeding the animals (we have a farm), and attending the shop when I don't have school. The shop is not much, just a shop with herbs and other organic products for the modern hippies that live around town and I do everything that a shop needs to keep on running; accounting, stocking, attending costumers etcetera. But the farm is huge; we have twenty chickens, ten pigs, two horses, a goat, two cats and a dog. And we share a meadow with fifty cows with our neighbour, Mr Abernathy, he is also my principal but he's never at school. On the official record it says that he is sick but everyone knows that he's drunk half of the time and the other he spends hung over. He has a farm as well but not as big as ours, he only shares the cows with us and he has several geese but I don't know how many.

And that is my life. Waking up, doing chores, going to school, doing chores, homework and off to bed only for it to start all over again the next day and the day after and the day after that. It's getting boring.

Today is the day. It's been 5 months since school has started and now that I'm a senior and since it's now January I will only have a few months left until my 18th birthday. Today, I will ask Martha if we can hire an employee to work with me in the shop and on the farm because I am getting behind in my classes. In the last few months it has seemed like everyone wants to go organic and it's has been so busy that I had to do my homework till midnight and then I still wouldn't have finished it, so I figured that I need help.

"Martha?"

I wait in front of her bedroom where she spends her entire day. I hear a soft voice telling me to come in and so I do exactly that. Her room is dark red with a king size bed in the middle of the room against the wall, her closet which is the length of an entire wall is to my left and a huge window is to my right. It's dark because her blood red curtains block out all of the sunlight. Who wants to spend her entire day watching Sex and the City reruns and the new episode of Teen Mom. The answer to that question is of course, Martha.

"Martha, can I ask you something?"

I come closer and look at her human form lying on the bed and I would swear you would think she was dead and the only reason that I don't think that is because of her answer just a few seconds ago and because I see her body shifting underneath the sheets, her fat wobbling and I could see her struggle until she is finally sitting against her headboard.

"What is it, Katniss?" she asks me, her tone tells me that she is annoyed that I am here and not doing my chores.

"I want help," I start but then quickly correct myself by saying: "I would like some help in the shop and on the farm, so I was wondering if I could hire someone?"

"And what are your motivations for this outrageous question?"

I take a step back and think of a good way to tell her my reasons, I never liked not being good with words but this is a moment that I hate it with all of my heart.

"I am getting behind with school and you know I want to go to college and I really like school but the shop and the farm take so much of the time that I am already lacking. So, I would like to hire someone to help me with my chores in the shop and on the farm and this way I can get back on track with my schoolwork"

I see her think, silence. I wait, more silence. I see her nod her head and I feel a bit of hope inside me.

"Okay, you can hire someone. Just one person though and I do not want him or her to get paid too much."

I nod my head, keeping my happiness inside of me and suppressing a smile. I thank her and ask her whether she would like something. "A cup of camomile tea with half a sugar cube and one and a half spoonful of milk"

I rush downstairs, put on the kettle and turn on my laptop that I had gotten myself two years ago for Christmas. And start a new word document: HELP WANTED! It says in large red letters. I print it and get Martha's tea ready. After I have run back from upstairs I go to the shop and hang the paper on the window.

I spend my next day at the shop, it's Saturday so I do not miss any classes or something like that and I don't have a lot of friends, I'm not a friendly type. I do consider Madge my friend, we spend our lunches together and we talk so that's friendship right?! And I have Gale, he's my best friend but we don't hang out so much lately because of the distance, he's gone off to college in Panem, two hours away from Seam.

I hear the bell, signalling a new costumer but I don't pay attention to it and go back to stocking the store. I only have one shelf left to stock but it's the top one and I am not very tall so I grab a stool to stand on. Newer products have to go on the back of the shelf so I reach out to grab the older products to shove them forward and I do not notice that I am losing my balance until it's already too late to correct myself and I fall from the stool… right into the arms of someone who was luckily standing behind me. The person helps me back on the floor and I turn around to take a good look of the Good Samaritan that probably saved my ankles from spraining. The first things I notice are the fact that he's a boy and his eyes, blue as sky on a clear summer day.

"Thank you for saving me" I say, breaking the silence that was present.

"No problem, I couldn't help myself from being prince charming and saving the damsel in distress" He chuckles almost unnoticeably and I laugh at his joke, he made me smile for real.

I shake his hand and tell him my name, "Katniss Lane". He looks me in the eyes and I see his bright blue eyes turn darker and now they are the colour of the ocean.

"Nice to meet you. Peeta Mellark." _Peeta Mellark_, it suits him though it's not a name that I have ever heard of but then Katniss isn't a popular name as well.

"How may I help you, Peeta Mellark?" My hands are becoming clammy and is the heater broke because I swear the temperature has risen above 80 degrees. He holds up the sign, I hadn't noticed that it was gone.

He smiles at me and says "I would like a job".

**AN: Tell me what you think! What could I improve? What do you want to happen? Do you like the story so far? Are you curious or excited to see what will happen next? See you next time, may the odds be ever in your favor!**


	2. The Employee Part One

**Chapter Two: The Employee Part One**

I fell silent the moment he said that he would like the job. Who would ever want to work in a shop this small? He probably knows that he is better off in a shop such as Target or even McDonalds, why would he ever want to work in an overpriced organic store where he would be paid below the minimum wage.

"You sure you want to work here?" I say, not believing him at all. As I already said, who would want to work here? He looks me right in the eye, to point where I'm starting to feel uncomfortable and yet I do not want him to stop looking. He does, unfortunately, stop when he says "Yes, I really do. Why would you ask me that? Don't you want me to work here?"

I do, I really REALLY do want that a lot. But I'm not going to say that of course. "No, no. I- I would like any help that I can get. I just- I just wanted to be sure that you weren't.. uhm, joking." I stutter out. Smooth, Katniss, _real_ smooth.

He stares at me as if I had just said one of the strangest things he has ever heard, his look says that it would be between 'I have a sixth toe on my left foot' and 'I am serious, there is a pink elephant behind you with a pink hat'.

"Why would I be joking?" He has a point I realize, I actually cannot think of any reason why he would joke about wanting to work here. But there is just something about him that unsettles me and at the same time mesmerizes me.

"I actually do not know. I mean, you do realize that you're stuck with me when you start working here? And I do not mean one hour a week, I mean two hours on schooldays and ten hours on the weekends."

"Make it three hours on a school day and twelve over the weekends and we have deal" He smiles at me. I surprise myself by smiling right back at him.

"Do you have a resume?" I ask, wanting to get back to business. We're going to be co-workers. No, I am going to be his boss. Okay, being someone's boss sounds really cool to me. He takes some papers out of his backpack that I hadn't noticed until now.

He passes the papers to me and I start reading. "Peeta Mellark, son of Greta and Colin Mellark." I look at him. "Really, Greta?! Poor mother." He doesn't react to that but I can see his smile fading a bit. I read some more.

"You've been working at Mellark's Bakery since you were four." I look at him again. "Why do you not work at your parents' bakery? I mean, it's closer to home. No stress because they're your parents and they're not going to fire you and I can imagine that you're very good at it because you've been doing it for so long. So why stop working there?"

He is silent for a moment and I can see him thinking which words he can choose. Weird, I thought he was so good with words. Making me smile with his jokes and knowing exactly what to say to my questions but he's speechless when it comes to the subject that is his family. I noticed it before when I asked him about his mom but didn't think too much of it, nobody has an answer for everything, until now. I guess it's a touchy subject that I should avoid as much as possible in the future.

"You're right. I've been working there since I was four. I am good, especially at decorating the cakes. And I make the best cheese buns in the world, at least that's what my friends and dad tells me, but it's becoming a routine and I like a challenge so I'm here, looking for a new job."

I decide not to react to that and read the rest of the papers in silence. He's the perfect example of a golden boy. He's a gymnast, a quarterback, he has never gotten into any trouble with the police and he has never got into detention either. What other words are there to describe him other than perfect and a golden boy?!

"You absolutely sure you want the job?" I ask him again. You can never be too sure.

He chuckles softly. "Absolutely. I wouldn't want any other job." I smile at him. I notice that I've been doing that a lot since I've met him.

"Well then, congratulations. You've got the job. Here is the contract. Minimum wage, no bonuses, extra hours that you won't get for, hard work, half an hour break for every six hours of work. And you are my personal shop slave for the rest of the year."

He grabs his pen, ready to sign it without even reading it.

"You don't want to read it? I mean, it's your choice but I would do it if I were you." His eyes rise up from the paper and his eyes twinkle, they freaking twinkle. If Tyra Banks was here she would praise him for his _smize_.

"It's okay. Thank you for the advice but I do not have to read it."

"Why not?" Really, why doesn't he need to read it? I can think of no reason why he wouldn't have a reason to read a contract. It is possibly the worst contract an employee could ever get and he doesn't even want to read it?!

He wakes me from my own thoughts by saying "Because I trust you." And then he signs the contract.

I give him another copy, one for him to keep, and he signs that one as well.

"Well then, I guess I can say it now: Welcome to Lane's Organic Shop." Cliché, I know, I am not artistic and I have the same amount of imagination as a stone. Luckily Martha thought the name was good enough to keep it otherwise I would still be thinking of a good name.

"Thank you. Wait, should I be calling you my boss now? Because I like Katniss better"

"Call me boss. Or Katniss. I don't mind either." He reaches his hand out to me and I take it, shaking his three times before letting go.

"When can I start? I mean, I do not have anything to do today so I thought that maybe you could start teaching me some of the small things that I have to do in the shop." I consider the idea and think that it's a good one. He will have to do all the things that are necessary, except for accounting, so he will have to learn a lot.

"That's a good idea. I guess you want to text you mom or dad to tell them that you got a job. And maybe it would be nice to tell them that you're going to stay away till late because we have a lot to do and you have a lot to learn."

He nods at me saying that he will do that and then takes his iPhone out of his pocket. He takes one step back and turns sideways. I admire his profile; his blond curls are placed perfectly, except for one stray piece of hair that I really want to put behind his ear so it doesn't fall in his face. I can see him opening his conversations but not to text his mom or dad but someone named Delly. My stomach drops, she's probably his girlfriend and now he's telling her that he will be late for their date because he would take her out for dinner and a movie and then sleep at her place, or his.

"Hey, I'm all done. Where can I put my stuff?" I point to the door behind the register. He walks through it and asks whether he has to wear a uniform as well.

"Of course you do. Don't worry, I will make one for you before your next day of work on Monday. For now, just lose the cardigan and wear that white shirt."

I walk to the door and at that moment I can see him pulling the cardigan off and while he does that I can see the small of his bare back because of the t-shirt that has ridden up. I never thought that I could find somebody's back sexy but Peeta Mellark has proven me wrong. He turns to me so I am face-to-face with him and the front of him is even better than his back. His t-shirt show the muscles that were hidden under the cardigan I can see his six-pack through his t-shirt. Stop it Katniss! You cannot be attracted to a boy who has a girlfriend even when he is the most beautiful creature that you have ever met.

"Okay, let's get to work."

Yeah, let's get to work. Easy for him to say, he doesn't have to work with someone who is attractive.

* * *

**AN: I hope you all liked this chapter because I did! I want to thank the people who reviewed, followed and favorited this story and want you to know that I really appreciate it and love you guys for it. Before this story will be progressing any further I want to tell you that ****I will be updating this story as soon as I have finished a chapter but with school and my job those updates will be irregularly. I have a vague idea of what I want to do with this story but if you have any ideas put it in a review or PM me and I will respond as soon as I can. You can also follow me on tumblr for a lot of random stuff which include many of my fandoms such as the Hunger Games, my name there is _urbangeekygirl._**

**See you next time and may the odds be ever in your favor!**


	3. The Employee Part Two

**Chapter Three: The Employee Part Two **

The first day of working with Peeta went by far too quickly for me. I taught him everything I knew and he listened intensively to me and did exactly what I told him to do. Within a few hours Peeta Mellark moved through the shop as if he has worked here his entire life. We spend the entire day figuring out a system that works for both of us. As it turns out Peeta is way more comfortable spending his time helping customers than I am. He is taller than me so he stocks the shelves that I can't reach and I do the rest, we do NOT want a repetition of what happened when we first met now did we?!

"Katniss?" I hear him but I do not respond, I want to stay in my thoughts just a tiny bit longer.

"Boss" I wake up from my thoughts, not really having much of a choice and start looking around the shop, searching for Peeta. I can't find him though.

"Peeta? Where the hell are you?" I hear shuffling behind me and I turn around. Worst decision ever since I am now very close to Peeta. I look at his very broad shoulders. I, reluctantly I admit, raise my head to see him looking down at me with his bright blue eyes.

"Hi"

"Hi, why did you call for me?"

He shrugs his shoulders and says "I wanted to know when my first day would be over? I have to be somewhere you see."

His girlfriend, I remind myself. Peeta has a girlfriend Katniss and you cannot be attracted to him because he is taken and he would never go for someone like you. I know what his type probably is; blond, busty and overexcited about anything.

"Yeah, sure. If you could just help me finish with stocking the last shelves and then you can go to wherever you have to be." He nods and then passes by me, his body touching mine to fit through the small opening of the door. Girlfriend, think of the girlfriend Katniss.

Stocking was done far too soon and before I knew it Peeta had left and I was all by myself again. I went to the office, still letting the lights on in the shop because there are no lights in the office, too expensive. Before I knew it it was already past midnight, my eyes began to close slowly and I felt my body getting too tired to continue doing the boring work that is paying the bills. I felt like it was time to go home, so I stood up from the desk and got out of the store and closed it for the one day that I would be completely spending on the farm.

I got home at one in the morning and went to work, the animals still had to be put inside and they hadn't been fed since I left this morning at six so I had to do that too. Normally it only takes me half an hour but my mind kept drifting off to everything that had happened today so the animals kept escaping and it was another hour before I was finally done.

I finally went inside, took a shower and went into bed. I installed my alarm at six so that gave me four and a half hours of sleep, it was about the same as a normal night so at least I knew that I wouldn't be tired tomorrow.

I couldn't sleep. My mind was full, full of Peeta. His eyes, shoulders, voice, mouth, body, arms, muscles and his personality. Peeta Mellark was definitely someone that I was attracted to… and he had a girlfriend, Delly. Who the hell calls his child Delly? That is just a recipe for disaster. What does Peeta call her, Dell? That reminds me of the oil company, Shell. I look at the clock on the opposite wall of my bedroom, four in the morning. So this mean that I have two hours left. I close my eyes again, hoping to catch some sleep before I have to get to work and luckily I feel my eyes getting heavier and find myself drifting off to sleep.

**THE NEXT DAY **

Two hours of sleep are not healthy for a seventeen year old girl, especially when she has to spent the next twelve hours working at a farm all by herself while also attending to her mother figure that asks way too much attention from her but it will have to do for me.

I take a quick cold shower hoping that it will wake me up but no such luck because I am even more tired after my shower than before and I can't help but think that today is going to be a terrible day. You know that moment when you just feel that the day will bring no happiness or any good things with him, well that's the feeling I got in my shower.

I make a cup of coffee for myself while making breakfast for Martha. I start with boiling an egg, then start making toast and finish it off with a cup of her favourite tea. I yawn but I do not give into my drowsiness and start walking up the stair towards Martha's room with her plate and tea in both my hands. I used to have trouble with keeping my balance while walking up the stairs but I have perfected the act over the years, I guess it helped that I got no pity from Martha whatsoever when I fell from the stairs for the tenth time.

I slowly open the door to her bedroom, still holding the cup and plate in my hands and slowly walk to her bed. I try to put her breakfast down as quietly as possible on her bedside table but I trip over one of her hideous dresses and everything flies out my hands and splatters on the wall. I stay still and hope that Martha was so fast asleep that she didn't hear it. My heartbeat slows down and I start moving again but stop just as quickly when Martha starts screaming at me.

"YOU STUPID GIRL! YOU CAN'T DO SHIT CAN YOU?! NOW GO DOWNSTAIRS AND MAKE ME A NEW BREAKFAST AND IT BETTER BE MORE FANCY THAN THIS ONE TO MAKE UP YOUR FOOLISHNESS! NO WONDER YOUR PARENTS DIDN'T WANT YOU, THEY SAW INMEDIATELY WHAT A FOOL YOU WERE GOING TO BE! I WISH I NEVER FOUND YOU!"

I pick up the broken plate and start gathering the pieces of glass. I run down the stairs with the ruined breakfast in my hands and it isn't until I am in the kitchen that I notice that the glass of the cup has ruined my hands and that blood is streaming out of the small and painful cuts. Great, another extra chore: cleaning the blood stains from the kitchen, the stairs and Martha's bedroom.

I do the routine of making Martha's breakfast again and this time I add a glass of freshly made orange juice and another piece of toast with cheese. Again, I walk up the stairs and I can't help it but feel scared, what if I trip again? Will Martha hit me? She never did before but I am scared that one day she will and I know that it will only get worse from that point on.

The door is still open and I watch out for the clothes that are laying on the ground, and I manage to put her breakfast down successfully this time.

"Your breakfast is ready, Martha. I'm sorry I was so clumsy and tripped." I learned over the years that it was better to just accept her rage and agree with her. And I never had to forget to apologize otherwise her anger would only become worse.

"You stupid girl. I'm sure you did it on purpose. You wanted me to suffer from hunger so you decided to ruin my breakfast. You are so mean, Katniss. I never did anything to do, I never hit you and I was so kind to take you in. What did I do to you that makes you do this to me?!"

"I'm sorry Martha. I am a bitter person. And you are too good for me. Thank you for everything you have done for me. I promise this will never happen again."

I start to slowly walk away and I almost didn't hear her but I did unfortunately while I was closing the door.

"I wish I never found" she whispered and started eating her breakfast.

Tears spring to my eyes. I know it wasn't my fault, I tripped because she is too lazy to clean up her own room. But her words still hurt me and they just now reach through to me. My parents didn't want me and now my carer didn't want me as well. What's wrong with me?

My coffee is cold now, no surprise there, but I still drink it because I am already behind on schedule and I do not have time to make another cup.

I put on my dungerees over my normal clothes which exist out of a pair of legging and a red-and-white checkered blouse and walk over to the goat.

"Hi Lady" I say and pet her over her head. I fill my hand with her food and she starts eating out of it.

"You're not mad at me, are you?" She looks at me and even though I know she doesn't understand me I still like talking to her. Lady is one of the animals that brightens my day no matter how bad it is.

I walk over the farm towards the horses but stop when I see my two cats walking towards me.

"Hey Violet and Bush, how are the babies?" Violet is expecting a nest of little kittens and there are only a weeks left until they should come. Martha already told me that there is only money for two cats so I know I will have to sell the kittens but it will still mean that I get to see them for a month until they can go with their new owners. Violet purrs and walks along my leg. Bush is a bit more passive and stands still before me while looking at me with a scowl.

"Love you too Bush" I say and walk past them but not before I take out the cat sweets that I always carry in my pockets and throw them to them.

The horses are my next stop. I always love to ride with them but I can only take one at a time and this time Bless is first, her full name is Blessing but I always call her Bless. I brush her then saddle her and take her outside.

"Stay her, Bless" She stays put and I fill a bucket of water for Hope. He is a fiery horse and I see my personality in him, I think that's one of the reasons why I love him so much.

"Hey Hope." He looks at me and I swear he smiles at me. "You happy to see, are you? Well I'm happy to see you too" I smile at him.

"I'm happy to see you too."

Where did that strange yet familiar voice come from? I turn around and see that I am face-to-face with Peeta.

"Hey Katniss."


End file.
